Moth Dust
by Izupie
Summary: 'Just follow the moth - guided by the moonlight - you'll never be lost.' There's a sketch of a man he thinks he met in a dream, a message he can't quite remember, a war he never asked to be involved in and a cute girl who turns into a moth. Izuku gets caught up in an adventure he could never have imagined. And his imagination is pretty wild. [Izuocha][Fantasy AU]


_This has been on my AO3 account for about a month or so already, and I wasn't intending on updating my account after I'd finished Beep Beep Beep, but I had a few people tell me that they read fanfiction primarily on and would really like to see updates from me on there too. So here we go!_

_This is a fantasy AU - an ambitious project that I hope you'll enjoy. It's taken a bit of a backseat to my other projects at the moment, but I'm fully intending on coming back to this one day. _

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**Moth Dust**

When Izuku's eyelids fluttered open he had the distinct feeling of something rough and gritty against his cheek. Oh, it was his carpet. His face was pressed against the floor and his body was crumpled into an undignified heap – too weak to move. He let out a weary groan as he closed his stinging eyes again and winced at the high-pitched ringing in his ears, using what strength he could muster to push himself upright and untangle his limbs.

Izuku breathed deeply. These… episodes… were getting worse. He wasn't sure how long he'd been out this time, but his cramping muscles were protesting at his movements, so it was likely to have been a while. The important thing was that he was alive. He was okay. Or as okay as he could be under the circumstances. He sat back with his legs crossed and rubbed at his sore cheek.

It wasn't long before the feeling that he'd forgotten something important seeped into the back of his mind; a hazy memory that he could almost, _almost _remember. With each episode the feeling got stronger. It reminded him of walking into a room and forgetting what you'd gone in there for. Or having a word on the tip of your tongue but not being able to voice it. Like waking up from a dream.

_Do people even have dreams while they're unconscious? _

Izuku reached up to his desk chair and hauled himself into it, leaning back with a sigh. The last thing he remembered was working on his assignment with a hot cup of coffee, but now his laptop screen was blank and when he touched a hesitant hand to his coffee cup it was stone cold.

His thoughts were too thick and sluggish to add anything of value to his essay, so Izuku gently pulled down the laptop lid with a click.

He folded his arms on his desk and rested his head on them. _I'm okay_, he repeated to himself, trying to focus on what was real. _I'm_ _okay_. Yet the niggling feeling persisted.

When he first started blacking out, he'd put it down to stress and a lack of sleep. It was easy to stop looking after himself properly at university; left to his own devices Izuku knew he spent most of his time playing video games, reading comics or studying and writing his assignments. But the episodes got more frequent and he felt more uneasy each time he woke up. He was only thankful that it had never happened while he'd been on campus.

With another sigh Izuku lifted his head back up and ruffled his hands through his messy green hair. He knew that at this length his thick hair only seemed to accentuate his round face and freckles – what the bullies at his high school had referred to as his 'baby-face' – but it was the style he thought suited him best. When he'd started university, he'd wrongly assumed that nobody would care, and the days of being laughed at and teased were behind him. He breathed out one soft laugh and attempted a sip of his coffee, shuddering at the cold bitter sensation on his tongue.

His thoughts were still muddy and thick and there was an edge of panic to his racing heartbeat, so Izuku knew he needed a place to calm down that wasn't his shabby student room. It didn't inspire many healing thoughts.

With an amount of effort that concerned him, Izuku pushed himself to his feet and shuffled to the sink in the corner of his room. The mirror above it was cracked and the sink itself was badly chipped, but it was fine. At least he'd got one. Sharing a toilet block was bad enough. The only other furniture in the room were his bed (full of hard lumpy springs), an old wardrobe (that didn't close properly), his trusty desk (with names of old students scratched into the wood), and his desk chair (which he assumed was once filled with padding). He could imagine describing a prison cell in much the same way. The student accommodation he lived in was very old and desperately in need of renovation, or even just some simple maintenance. The carpet in his room was virtually threadbare, and no matter how often he hoovered it there was always a layer of dirt that had been ingrained by the feet of so many generations of university students that it just wouldn't lift out.

Izuku shuddered as he absentmindedly rubbed his cheek again, remembering the feeling of the grit against his skin. The taps turned on with a squeal as he leant down and gratefully splashed cold water onto his face.

His pale reflection stared back at him out of the cracked mirror; large green eyes with dark circles hung deep below them, pale skin bringing out the freckles on his nose and cheeks even more. Traces of dirt clung to his blue hoodie and Izuku brushed it off, glad that his cargo shorts hid any traces of his time spent on the floor.

He frowned at his reflection, and his face in the mirror grimaced back at him – spider-webs of cracked glass ran through his face and distorted it.

He'd never let his mother come here. Every time he'd video called her, he was very careful to sit at the only decent angle in the room and always cited being too busy with his studies and friends to have her over whenever she asked about a visit. He felt awful about lying, but he knew she would hate to think of him living like this. She'd surprised him when she announced that she had been saving up for his education for a long time and was going to be paying for his tuition and accommodation. She was a single parent working nine-to-five in a small office job, so he couldn't help but wonder how long 'a long time' really was. She'd said that she wanted to fund it herself so that he wouldn't be in debt and could enjoy the experience of university guilt free.

Ironic really.

In the end he couldn't handle the guilt of using much of her savings, despite what she said. The cheapest was fine. He could put up with it.

Izuku picked up a battered looking sketchbook and pencil and shoved them into his favourite yellow backpack. He wasn't paying attention when he stepped forwards to go through his doorway, so he yelped when he went straight into something sticky. He jumped backwards and flailed his arms, trying to rip off whatever sticky thing had attached itself to him and he pulled away handfuls of sticky tape.

Oh.

Just another prank.

Across his doorway were the remnants of tape that had been stuck all the way down from one side of the frame to the other.

He should be used to his flatmates pulling pranks on him, but it stung like a raw wound every time. The day they'd all moved in Izuku had dragged two suitcases from the train station, determined to move himself in without his mom (he told her it would be uncool, but he just didn't want her to see what he'd chosen as his accommodation for the year) and he'd been hot and tired and looking forward to meeting the other students that he would be sharing his university experience with. His excitement had been short lived.

Izuku ripped away the rest of the tape, glad that they'd not been there to see his reaction. From the booming of the bass thumping from their shared kitchen, it sounded like they were all 'pre-drinking' in there; making a mess before they went out to the nightclubs nearby. If he was quiet, they wouldn't even notice him leaving the flat. He gave a small sigh as he realised it seemed his biggest goal in life lately was always to be as unnoticed as possible. He wasn't even sure if his lecturers would realise if he stopped coming to his classes.

Once the tape was completely removed Izuku locked his door and walked swiftly down the corridor, ready to silently slip away, but he paused mid-step when he came to a door near the end. The door was covered in more tape. There were lines and lines of sticky tape attached to each side of the doorframe and he knew that Tsuyu would walk out of her room and straight into it like he had done. Izuku's hands gripped tightly by his sides as he glanced nervously to the closed kitchen door, hearing nothing but the constant bass of music and the raucous laughter of the others. He didn't want to think about what would happen if they came out and found him taking down their prank. But… Tsuyu didn't deserve it, even if it was something silly like that; he knew first-hand that it wasn't nice to feel victimised and picked on.

His hands shot out towards the wall of tape and he tore it all down franticly.

A nervous sweat gathered on the back of his neck as he continued to glance back at the kitchen, praying that the music was loud enough to drown out the ripping sound.

Izuku balled up the tape and slipped away, thankful nobody had noticed him.

Being the cheapest student accommodation meant that the corridors were neutral on gender; male, female, none, or anything in between – everyone was mixed together. His corridor had two girls and four boys, including himself. Tsuyu Asui kept to herself even more than he did. She never mixed with the others and he only ever saw her on the rare occasion he bumped into her early in the morning before lectures. Since they were heading to the same campus, Izuku had once offered for them to walk together, but she had been completely silent the entire way there, despite his efforts to talk to her, so he assumed she'd only agreed because she didn't want to be mean and say no. He didn't offer again.

But none of that meant she deserved to be picked on.

Izuku shoved the ball of tape into the bin in the building's lobby on his way out.

Once the creaky front door had slammed shut behind him Izuku felt much better. The breeze was fresh and clean, Spring now in full force, and the sweet scent of flowers lingered in the warm air. He hefted his backpack higher on his shoulders and began walking away from the building. The night air was refreshing on his clammy skin and it helped to ease the tension in his muscles from his time spent on the floor. Even his strength was beginning to return, though he knew by his skinny arms that there wasn't much to come back anyway.

It was a pleasant kind of twilight as there were still remnants of light blue in the clear sky. People were walking the streets chatting and going about their business; some of them were dressed up and ready for the night clubs, like the students in his corridor, while others were clearly just enjoying the late-night warmth. The fun thing about living next to a university was that he was surrounded by student flats, and it felt like the area never slept. There was always some kind of buzz – and even if Izuku didn't participate in it, it was nice to live alongside. It felt odd to consider himself a stranger looking in on the aspects of university you were typically supposed to enjoy the most. Maybe it was different if you had friends.

Izuku gripped the straps of his backpack and kept his head down as he walked, watching his red boots flash in and out of his vision with each step.

He knew exactly where he was going and found that his feet took him there whether he put much thought into it or not.

_Take a left after the closed down ice-cream parlour. Right just before the statue of the soldier. Right again by the wonky traffic lights. Straight on between the two old fabric stores. Cross the road into the park. Through the narrow gap in the bushes. Go through the blue gate. There._

Izuku closed the gate behind him softly before he set off again. There were no people now, and each of his footsteps crunched loudly in the silence. He'd only ever been here at night, so he wasn't sure what it looked like during the day – did anyone _ever_ come through this part of town? It was an old shabby area that he assumed hadn't been part of the regeneration project they'd implemented to the centre. He supposed it was much like his apartment building and they just didn't see that it was worth the money to do up.

The area was desperately in need of some work; dirt had settled in a thick layer over everything, houses were small and empty, old brick work was crumbling in places, windows had been boarded shut, the streetlamps that worked were dim, and a general sense of old and tired lingered about the place. Though it wasn't unfriendly. As much as he knew that being so alone in such a deserted place should be disturbing, and the old, shabby appearance should have been frightening, especially to someone who was scared so easily… there was a sense of warmth in the atmosphere. It was nostalgic and welcoming in a way and it set him at ease.

Izuku made his way to one of the old stores and looked up at the painted sign above it that displayed part of a word he couldn't quite make out. The signs on the stores all had names that had been so worn by weather and age that he couldn't read any of them. He'd always theorised that they'd been little independent business before they'd closed, since he didn't recognise any of the words that he could make out anyway. The windows and doors were all boarded up, but that only set off his curiosity at what they looked like inside, and he told himself that he was going to come in the daylight one day and try to look between the wooden boards. He squeezed down a narrow side alley to reach a thin and rusty ladder, and without hesitating he grabbed the rungs and climbed.

When he reached the top of the ladder he shrugged out of his backpack and threw it up over the top first, then hauled himself up after it and lay in an undignified heap as he stared up at the darkening sky. Despite what the air had done for his strength he was still feeling weak and climbing up the narrow ladder was hard work. After a moment Izuku pushed himself to his feet, grabbed his bag, and dusted off the back of his shirt.

In front of him was a small garden that was full of lush flowers and grasses, bright with colour, and alive with the sounds of the breeze dancing through petals and leaves. The foliage rustled gently and filled Izuku with a sense of peace that chased away all thoughts of bullies and black outs. There was a gravel path ahead of him that cut through the plants, and a single wooden bench sat right in the centre of it all.

A tall wall encircled the edges of the roof, protecting it from view from the outside, so it felt like this place was his secret garden, though it was so well cared for that he had to assume that someone still lived in the area and tended to it.

Izuku breathed in deeply and closed his eyes, appreciating the delicate scent of the flowers.

Now he was starting to feel whole again. Normal.

Or at least, his usual kind of normal.

Izuku pulled out the sketchbook and pencil from his bag and flicked through the pages, watching as his drawings flipped by. He'd always loved sketching, but just recently he'd nearly filled a whole sketchbook with drawings of places and people he'd imagined. Notes were scribbled around the pictures, describing things like why a certain building had two chimneys, why that creature had horns, why this flower was a certain colour or how this kind of person could breathe underwater. He assumed he'd been inspired by the garden and had created these fantastical new ideas because of how magical the place seemed.

Usually he left a drawing as a thank you to whoever cared for the garden; for being able to sit and appreciate the space. It worked as an apology too, because as hard as he tried not to leave an impact, he could always see his own boot prints in the gravel path as he walked over it. He'd tried to rub the footprints away with his hands once, but he'd only succeeding in flicking the gravel around and making his fingers dirty, so he left it to whoever the secret gardener was. He still felt bad for creating more work for them, so he would choose a flower from the garden and draw it with a little 'thank you' written at the bottom of the page, then he'd fold it up and wedge it underneath the arm of the bench, where it would be safe from the rain. All the drawings were gone by his next visit.

Izuku settled into his seat and opened the sketchbook, intending to draw one of the flowers first, but once his pencil touched the paper, a different image materialised into his mind. It was hazy and distant, like he was trying to grasp onto wisps of smoke, but he could see bright blue and gold.

Was that a man…?

Izuku gasped at the sudden pressure behind his eyes. He removed the pencil and held his forehead with a wince as a ringing sound pierced his ears. The hazy, half-formed image swam into focus again and he shook his head as if to clear it away. But the image only became clearer. It _was_ a man's face.

Izuku leaned forwards as he let out a breath. His hand holding onto the pencil nudged the sketchbook as he moved, and he felt a jolt of surprise as the ringing and pressure both faded as soon as the lead touched the paper. Hesitantly Izuku let the pencil move and the uncomfortable feeling in his head lessened. He threw his caution aside to let his hand sweep around the page, to form the image he could almost see, and with every stroke of his pencil his head felt clearer. He mumbled as he drew, focusing on what was in his imagination rather than trying to push it out.

"Blonde hair… no, gold. Swept back… except these bits, are they antennae? Hm, no, it's just hair. Strong features… Wide smile… Blue eyes… Really blue eyes," Izuku mumbled, while his pencil scratched furiously, and he periodically added hasty notes by the side of the portrait that was forming.

As soon as the picture was done Izuku straightened from the paper he had been hunched over and his hands shook slightly as he peered down at the man's portrait. He looked so alive, every feature and shadow on his face captured perfectly, and Izuku's eyes grew wide to realise that he had been the one to create something that detailed.

The man's expression was so intense, and his smile was so full of life and vigour, that he filled Izuku with confidence and courage just to look at him. But… even though the man was grinning ear to ear there was something dark and sad about his expression... Was it regret?

Izuku suddenly shot out a hand to the arm of the bench to steady himself. He gripped the wood tightly as his head swam with a lightness that he knew signalled the beginning of another episode.

_Not here. Not here._

He took a shaky breath and squeezed his eyes shut, willing himself to stay conscious, even though he wasn't sure if that would make any difference.

Izuku breathed steadily and deeply, trying to let the sound of the rustling plants ground him again, and only when he was sure that he wasn't going to faint, he opened his eyes a fraction. Nothing had changed in the beautiful garden. Izuku rubbed a tired hand over his face and clenched his fists in his effort to not cry.

_What is wrong with me?_

A large brown moth suddenly drew Izuku's attention and made him jump as it danced into view, its wings seemed to flicker as it beat them rapidly and it tucked them tightly onto its back as it settled on the open page. It was the first time Izuku had seen anything alive in the garden that wasn't the plants. He'd never seen a moth with a pattern that detailed on its wings before, swirls and speckles of black on brown, and Izuku found himself picking his pencil back up to capture it before it flew away. His eyes narrowed in concentration as he sketched furiously, creating a perfect replica of the small insect just below where it sat, determined to reproduce the intricate pattern on its wings. It had fluffy antennae on its head that twitched from time to time as he drew, and a ring of fur where its head connected to its body that he enjoyed trying to recreate using the strokes of his pencil.

The moth flew away just as he finished the final scratch. Strangely, sketching the little insect had calmed him so much that Izuku realised his pulse was no longer racing and tears no longer threatened to spill out of his eyes. In fact, he was even smiling.

It seemed a little ridiculous to be thankful to a moth for pulling him out of his anxiety, but that was just one more thing to add to the odd situations he should no longer be surprised to find himself in these days.

Izuku glanced back at the portrait of the man, just below his new sketch of the moth, and found that it still unnerved him just as much as it sparked something familiar and warm inside him. He furrowed his brows as he tried hard to think back to if he had seen this man before, but beyond a kind of vague feeling of familiarity he couldn't recall ever meeting someone like that.

Just as he was about to close his sketchbook and go back, he remembered he'd not drawn a gift for whoever tended to the garden, so he scribbled a quick 'thank you', ripped out the page, folded it neatly, and wedged it in its usual place.

Izuku looked down at his watch and paled at the time. He'd been here much longer than he'd expected. The others would be _coming back_ from the night out that they'd been getting ready to go on. How had he been out here that long?

Hoping he could make it back before they did, Izuku stuffed his book and pencil into his backpack again and hitched it back onto his shoulders. His boots crunched satisfyingly loudly on the gravel path as he made his way to the ladder. It was only when he turned to lower himself back down that he noticed that the foliage he'd thought was vibrant green before had brown leaves dotted amongst it, some of the flower heads were wilting and bowed, and even patches of the grass looked parched and brittle in places.

He tilted his head in confusion, unable to remember seeing anything different about the garden on his way in, but he'd obviously just been very preoccupied with his episode and hadn't realised. It was odd for Spring though, and wasn't someone supposed to be watering the plants?

Izuku pushed it out of his mind as he descended the ladder.

When he got back to the blue gate he pulled on the latch, but nothing happened. Sometimes it stuck like this and he'd have to put some effort into opening it, but today it didn't even feel like it was budging an inch. There was a long stretch of wall encircling this part of town, which he imagined was a remnant left over from before it had been expanded, so he'd never seen if there was another way in. He assumed there must be, since it seemed unreasonable to have the only entrance be a nearly hidden gate in some bushes in a park. Izuku tugged the latch sharply but there was still no movement. He was about to give up and look for another way out when a strange feeling overcame him, shivering down his body like water trickling over his skin. It felt like he was being watched.

For the first time since he'd discovered the old part of town, he felt nervous. The hairs on his arms stood up and his hands felt clammy as he struggled to pull harder on the wooden gate. "Come on," he grunted, throwing all his weight into a harsh yank that finally swung the gate inwards.

He threw himself back into the park and didn't even turn around as he flung the gate shut again, hearing its metal latch clang back into place.

Izuku shuddered as he moved swiftly through the park, not looking back. He really shouldn't be out this late.

He didn't relax until he got back to the accommodation building, used his student ID card to open the front door and was back in the familiarity of the old lobby. Nobody could get in without a card they issued to each student on their first day of university. He let out a long, shaky breath. It smelled mustier than when he left, tinged with a bitter stink of smoke and stale alcohol, indicating the return of students from their night out.

The lobby was one of the communal spaces in the building, so he just hoped it was a group from a different corridor.

Izuku used a battered old key to access his flat and peered around the door before he fully entered it. Silence. Good. He crept in and shut the door quietly. He was already shaken by what had happened at the gate, so he really didn't want to bump into any of the others before he got to his room-

"Well, well, well," a female voice rang out behind him, the tone light and feminine but with an acidic bite that reminded Izuku of nails scraping down a chalkboard. "Izuku honey, where have you been out so late? I was worried about you, you know. When we came back the tape was all gone so we knew you'd gone out somewhere, but nobody knew where. I couldn't stand the thought that something might have happened to you, so I stayed up waiting for you to come home while the others went to bed. I needed to know that you were safe, baby."

Izuku's heart sank at the high-pitched drawl of Himiko Toga. When he turned around, she was leaning in the doorway of the open kitchen. Her blonde hair was in its signature messy twin-bun style, wisps of hair sticking out from them in all directions, while her makeup was thick and heavy and a little smudged from her night out. She was wearing pyjamas that had been printed to look like a sailor-style school uniform. Her yellow eyes were narrowed dangerously, and her smile was thin.

He took a breath to reply but her smile only widened to flash her white teeth at him and his jaw snapped shut.

"It's funny 'cause there's no tape on this door either." She indicated Tsuyu's room. "Was that you too? Did you not think it'd be funny to think of her trying to leave her room and walking straight into all the tape instead? Did you find it funny? What kind of sound did you make?" She drew closer to Izuku as he stepped away and backed into the door he'd just come in from, his eyes wide with fear.

Himiko had been weirdly interested in him not long after they'd all moved in and she'd always used pet names for him that dripped with a sickly sweetness he hated. She unnerved him in a way he could never describe, but he knew to stay well away and had made sure he was never alone with her. Until now.

He noticed an odd smear of dark red along her jaw and there was something almost predatory in her expression; her yellow eyes shined with a danger beyond simply being a bully.

Izuku's tongue felt heavy in his mouth, but he managed a small, "I-I-I just went for a walk. Now I'm just going to b-bed."

Himiko smiled, but the sight of her white teeth flashing in the dim unnatural light sent a shiver rolling down his spine. "Really?" She crept closer and he desperately wanted to push her away, tell her to back off, do _something, _but he just couldn't manage anything beyond clenching his eyes shut and hearing his own heartbeat in his ears like a drum.

There was something sharp and coppery about her breath as she leaned towards him.

Himiko suddenly recoiled and made a screech of disgust in the back of her throat.

"What- What is that _smell?_" She coughed and wheezed as she rubbed her nose.

Izuku didn't know what she meant, but he saw his opportunity to shove past her and he took it to race back to his room. He heard her shout after him, but he was already slamming his door shut and snapping the lock into place. Faintly behind his door he could hear shouts from the other rooms in the corridor yelling in slurred voices about keeping the noise down, and a screeched reply from Himiko about them minding their own business. But they were out there, and he was safe in his room.

Izuku heaved a shuddering breath and let himself sink to the floor, his back against his door.

He should quit. He should quit university, go and see a doctor and go home… But he wasn't a quitter.

Izuku wiped his teary eyes on his sleeve and threw himself under his bed quilt still fully dressed. Though he could still feel his heartbeat thundering in his chest, he felt himself slip into the darkness of a dreamless sleep.

Izuku sat up with a groan and slammed a hand on his wailing alarm clock.

Even when his life seemed to be unravelling in front of him the world continued to turn, and his alarm clock still went off every morning. It was both sad and comforting. He rubbed his tired and stinging eyes as the morning sun blazed through his window and seemed to chase away all the nightmares of the night before. He wished he'd gotten out of his clothes before he'd collapsed into be-

A raw undignified yelp tore itself from Izuku's throat as he noticed a figure standing at the bottom of his bed. It was about to morph into a scream as the figure shot over to him and clamped a hand over his mouth. Fear seized his limbs and made him unable to do anything but comply with the hand that silenced him.

When his scream faded from the back of his throat the stranger took a few paces backwards and put a finger to her lips, accompanied by a jingling noise that sounded like a wind chime. Izuku could do nothing but stare as his brain couldn't seem to match up what he was seeing with what should be possible…

The stranger was clearly a female; small, with a round face and large expressive brown eyes framed by thick black lashes. There was a pinkness to her rounded cheeks, and long brown bangs fell beside them on both sides, while the rest of her hair was in a bouncy looking bob style cut. She wore a cotton waistcoat and shorts, with a long 'tail' to the waistcoat hanging behind her legs, all the way down to her ankles. Her whole outfit was in shades of dark brown with a lighter brown ruff of fur around her neck, wrists and ankles – though he couldn't see that they attached to any of the rest of her outfit. She wasn't wearing any shoes. Two large and fluffy antennae poked out of her hair on top of her head, curling and uncurling as she watched him unashamedly assessing her up and down with his eyes.

"W-W-What the…?" Izuku finally managed.

She brightened and the jingling sound came again while her antennae straightened up towards the ceiling. A flickering movement behind her made him realise what he'd thought was a tail to her waistcoat were actually delicate looking wings, folded up on her back.

"I've finally lost it," he mumbled, "that's it isn't it. My brain has given up. Maybe this is what dying feels like... A fairy comes to take you away instead of a grim reaper. I wish I'd have been able to say goodbye to mom first." He gingerly got out of the bed while he rambled.

The moth-fairy tilted her head and raised her eyebrows, accompanied by a string of jingles and chimes. Izuku paused in his mumbling and watched her curiously. He could only hear chiming sounds from her, but her lips were moving as if she was speaking. She continued, joined by a few hand movements, and smiled as she paused for a breath. Izuku stared blankly.

She was trying to talk to him.

As if coming to the realisation that Izuku had no idea what she was saying she made another chiming sound, much slower, and pointed to him, then to her mouth.

Izuku shook his head slowly.

The moth-fairy's expression fell, and her antennae drooped either side of her head, reminding him of a lop-eared bunny he'd had as a child.

This was impossible. He was dying and hallucinating and none of this was possible.

Izuku took a step towards her, expecting her to disappear back into his imagination at any moment. She tilted her head a little and her antennae lifted back up as she blinked owlishly.

"So you…" Izuku began hesitantly, indulging himself in his bizarre dying fantasy, "y-you can understand me?"

She nodded.

"And those- those sounds you're making- that's you trying to talk to me?"

Her eyebrows tilted down delicately and she gave him a sad smile in confirmation.

"This is… I don't know. Maybe it's incredible, but I could be dying so maybe it's not. Do, um- do all fairies sound like that?" he asked curiously, his eyes flicking to the wings he could see folded on her back.

She scrunched up her nose and puffed out her cheeks.

"Ah! D-Did I say something wrong?" Izuku flinched at her sudden change of attitude, wondering what had prompted it, and raised his hands in a fluster.

The moth… fairy… girl pointed to her wings, then to her antennae.

"You're… not a fairy?" he guessed.

Another nod as she rested her hands on her hips.

"O-Okay. Hm, I guess I'd ask you what you are, but I won't be able to understand you, huh? And maybe it sounds a little rude anyway."

She threw him another sad smile and shrugged, a brief chime coming out of her lips.

This really was incredible. She seemed so real for a hallucination brought about by whatever had been causing his fainting episodes. Maybe it was the result of a slow brain bleed of some kind…

Izuku had to stop himself from reaching out a hand to pinch her skin. But he was pretty sure you had to pinch your own skin in these kinds of situations. That's what he'd seen in the movies.

She made another chiming sound, pulling Izuku out of his thoughts, and made a gesture with her hands he couldn't understand.

"This would be so much easier if we could talk," he sighed. He was still expecting to wake up on the floor again, or for her to disappear at any moment, but for now he was willing to indulge his curiosity and see where this odd fantasy took him. Learning about a magical creature was interesting, even if he was making it all up. The only problem was that he had never been very good at charades.

She made a motion towards her throat and pinched her fingers together with a squint of her eyes.

Izuku blinked. "You… have a small neck?"

She frowned, shook her head and jingled loudly as she pointed to her throat, into her mouth and then at her wings. She pinched her fingers again, motioned towards him and shook her head with more energy.

Izuku took a moment to process what she could mean with her motions while his brain hurriedly tried to piece it all together. More charades…

"Okay," he said aloud, "your throat? But not your neck… Your mouth? Oh – what comes out of your mouth – your voice!" He felt boldened by the enthusiastic expression on her face. "Right, so, _your voice- _but motioning to your wings would mean you as in the fairies- creatures- um- people? The _magical beings_ like you? Something about being small… You pointed to me and shook your head…" He placed a hand on his chin. "The… others… like you, have small voices- ah! That's what the chime sounds are! And when you gestured to me you meant _humans _in general, right? So, humans can't hear you because your voice is small?"

Her antennae waved in confirmation and she tapped the tips of her fingers together in excitement. But Izuku's shoulders slumped slightly. That was a blow. Why would he make someone up that he couldn't even talk to?

"But that means I won't be able to understand anything you say…"

The moth-girl considered this for a moment, tapping a finger against her chin, then she shook her head and nodded one after the other.

"Uh… Does that mean yes and no?"

She took a step closer to him tentatively, her large brown eyes looking up into his own, widening them slightly as if she was asking his permission to enter his space. Izuku didn't move, his curiosity kept him rooted to the spot, and he hoped that was a good enough answer. She came a little closer. He was surprised that his pulse picked up strangely. Other than the fact that long delicate looking wings were flickering a little against her back, she had ruffles of soft fur around her neck, wrists and ankles, and tall fluffy antennae poked out of her hair, she looked just like an ordinary girl.

His mind had supplied him with a magical creature just as fictional as a unicorn or a vampire, but it looked just like a girl. And he couldn't even talk to her. Izuku wondered if that said something about himself. He really wouldn't want this episode psycho analysed.

The moth-girl pointed to his ears and then poked a finger at his chest, but he looked blankly back at her. She pointed to his ears again with a pout, and then reached gently over to grab his hand in hers. Her hand felt a little rough and grainy, like it was coated in sand, but it was soft and warm like a regular human hand – and it felt _very real_.

_Too real._

Izuku had to finally face the realisation that this was really happening. _At least I'm not dying_, he consoled himself. _Probably_. She brought his hand up in the air between them while he looked on curiously, and then she placed it firmly just below her neck on the left side of her chest.

"W-W-What are you doing?" Izuku stammered. His instant reaction to snatch his hand away was stopped by her grip; her hand was firmly pressing his palm on the flat part of her chest, resting against the bare skin above the top of her waistcoat… and other things… Her skin was warm and smooth like regular human skin, without any of the dusty coating she had on her hands, and he felt the slight movement of her neck under his fingers as she swallowed. The collar of fur tickled his fingers.

She was like a unicorn or a vampire or a dragon or an elf or a fairy, he frantically reminded himself. (His racing inner thoughts caught on the word 'fairy' when he remembered that she didn't like it, even while he was trying desperately not to think about the contact and where his hand lay only the tiniest distance above.)

Even if she felt real, she wasn't _real. _Not like a person.

Distantly through his confusion and panic he realised there was a vibration against his palm. A beat. Fast. Erratic. Strong.

Her heartbeat.

Her gaze was intense – willing him to understand – while intelligence and something otherworldly shined out of her pretty brown eyes. He was sure that her cheeks looked even pinker, and he became aware of the heat flaming through his own.

She gently removed one of the hands holding his down and pointed to herself, to his ears and then to his chest.

Her heartbeat continued strongly under his hand.

He could understand her… if he listened… with his _heart_…?

That didn't even make any sense.

None of this made sense.

He hadn't realised he'd spoken aloud until he saw her duck her head slightly to giggle, a chiming noise hissing out between her lips. She let go and hid her face to smother her laughter (and hide her blushing cheeks?) and he lamented the absence of softness and warmth instantly. There was something grounding and soothing about the feel of her heartbeat beneath his palm. He wiggled his fingers without thinking about it.

This was the strangest thing that had ever happened to him, yet he was mostly filled with a bright curiosity – like a beam of torchlight cutting through the darkness.

He wished he had his notebook and a pen. This would be great to read back to himself later if he really wasn't dying.

He cleared his throat, but the sound came out like more of a strangled squeak. She giggled another cute chime and he tried again, bringing his hand up to his mouth as he cleared his throat and coughed more forcefully. His hand felt dusty where she'd held him, and he absentmindedly wiped it on the front of his hoodie. The chiming giggling stopped abruptly. She took a step back from him and drew some fabric out of a satchel he hadn't noticed before, attached to a belt around her shorts, and she hastily pulled on a pair of silky looking brown gloves.

Izuku waved his hands in front of him. "Oh- uh- I…" He felt a pang of guilt pierce his chest as he watched her dip her head and cast her eyes down at his threadbare carpet. She gripped her arms with her gloved hands while her antennae curled tight against her head, clamming herself up tight from him.

"I'm sorry, I really am- I didn't mean to offend you."

She shook her head as if to tell him it's okay, but he couldn't help the guilt lancing through him that told him he had damaged something between them.

He wished they could speak to each other properly.

There was an awkward pause until Izuku suddenly thought of an idea. "Wait, if I can't understand your speech, maybe I can understand your writing." He reached over for a notebook from his desk and pulled a pen out of the pencil case nearby. He offered them both to the moth-girl, taking a small step towards her, glad when she didn't take a step back.

She looked from him to the notebook.

"Can you – write – your name?" Izuku asked, clearly and loudly articulating each word.

Her expression softened as she chuckled a chiming sound and she pointed to her ears with a small amused smile.

"O-Oh, yeah, sorry," he laughed sheepishly, "you're not deaf, right? I'm sorry I'm… not very good with talking to people. Especially now I'm the one doing all the talking- not that that's your fault of course, I'm just not good at social stuff, probably because I haven't really had much practice. I think this is the longest I've spoken to anyone in a really long time, and it's kind of funny because I can't hear a word your saying but it's the best conversation I've ever had." Izuku took a breath and scratched at the back of his neck.

Her sincere smile loosened the knot of guilt twisting his gut. She pointed to herself and then held up two fingers.

_Me too._

"Hey, I understood that!"

She smiled more widely and Izuku found himself smiling back. She gently took the notebook and pen into her gloved hands. It only took her a moment to sweep the pen across the page and turn it around proudly, but she must have understood from his expression that he couldn't understand what it said because her antennae drooped again.

Izuku sighed as she returned the notebook to his desk, but he tilted his head in surprise as he suddenly caught a pattern in the indecipherable squiggles. "O…cha…ko," he said slowly.

She made a squeak of surprise.

"If I tilt my head and squint, I think it kind of looks like a name all of a sudden." He ran a finger along the paper as he repeated strongly, "Ochako."H

When he looked up at her she had a strong bloom of pink dusted over the tops of her cheeks and the tip of her nose. Her whole face lit up and she clapped her hands together.

"Wait, is that…? Is that your actual name?"

She nearly bounced on the spot as she nodded, and her wings half flared out behind her before they folded shut again like a fan.

"Wow," Izuku breathed, "this is amazing! I could really read that!" But when he looked back at the paper the squiggles seemed as completely indecipherable as the first time he looked. "Oh- it's gone again." He ran a hand over the foreign swirls on the page. "Maybe I really am hallucinating…"

Ochako pinched his arm.

"Ow! Hey!"

She reached over to pinch him again, but he ducked away with a laugh. "Okay, okay, I get it – you're not a hallucination. I don't know how this is possible, but you're _real_. Right?"

She punched the air.

Izuku ruffled his hands roughly through his thick hair as he considered an important point. "But, uh, it's been to nice to meet you and all, but… Why are you in my room?"

Ochako blinked and then rubbed the back of her neck with a nervous laugh. Almost like she'd forgotten there was a reason at all. She held up a finger as if to tell him to hold on and then she reached back around for the satchel on her hip.

A sudden knock at the door made Izuku jump with a yelp.

He never had visitors.

He glanced at the door as if it would reveal the secret of who was behind it, and was about to tell Ochako to hide, but when he looked back there was nobody there. Izuku froze and his eyebrows pulled together as he peered around the room a second time, but another knock came and Izuku made his way quickly to the door.

He took one last look around and then pulled open the door. There was a girl in the doorway; all long skinny limbs with

hair that fell down her back like a dark green waterfall, tied near the bottom with a large ribbon almost the exact same shade as her hair. She smiled at him and he noted that her mouth was on the slightly unnerving side of being too wide for her face, but her expression was friendly. A frog hairclip smiled at him from her hair and even her dress was green.

"Oh- g-good morning Tsuyu," Izuku stammered, remembering his manners. As if his morning could get much weirder.

A long finger made its way to her chin. "Thank you," she said, still smiling.

Izuku twitched in surprise. He'd never heard her voice before – it was so croaky, and it had a nasal kind of ring to it.

"Y-You're welcome," he replied, so shocked that she was speaking to him that he hadn't really considered what she was thanking him for.

"For what you did with the sticky tape," she clarified, seeing his mystified expression, "I heard them putting it on last night. Then someone took it off. And I heard what Himiko said to you. Ribb-" She turned away quickly and did a strange sounding coughing hiccup into her hand.

For some reason her hiccup reminded him of a frog's croak and Izuku wondered if that's why she didn't talk. He waved his hands in front of him. "O-Oh! That! No problem. They did it to me too, and I walked straight into it. I- uh- I guess I didn't like to think of it happening to someone else."

"An admirable trait."

"Oh, I-I don't know… about that… I'm not as selfless as that sounds. I'm just…"

Tsuyu tilted her head patiently waiting for him to finish, but her attention caught on something behind him inside the room and her eyes focused over his shoulder. Izuku's heart beat loudly in his ears and he whipped around, hoping it wasn't Ochako, but when he gazed into the room there was still nothing there.

"Ah, I see," Tsuyu croaked.

Izuku didn't see anything.

"I knew there was something about you that made you different," she continued with a nod. "I should have known you'd be an Amicus, ribbit."

Izuku blinked. Did she just croak like a frog? "A… what…?"

"Friend to the Faunals," Tsuyu said. She pointed to herself and to the space behind him.

"The… Faunals?" Izuku found the odd word strangely familiar on his tongue.

"I'm sorry if I've seemed distant, ribbit. I didn't realise."

"You… Huh?"

He'd been having a normal time at university, bar the bullying and the prison cell he called a room, but everything had started getting just a little bit odd ever since he'd started having those fainting episodes. What was she talking about?

Tsuyu stared at his face, but her expression was so guarded that he couldn't see what she was thinking.

She gave a tiny shake of her head. "You really don't know? But in that case, ribbit, why is there a Lepidoptera in your room?"

Izuku turned around and suddenly Ochako was there again, waving at Tsuyu like an old friend. He was so intrigued by the latest development that he wasn't sure what he should be more surprised about. He felt like his head was swimming. "Do you have time to come in?" he asked Tsuyu in a strained, hopeful voice.

He wondered if there was something in his expression that Tsuyu couldn't ignore, because she flashed a look at a frog shaped watch on her wrist, then nodded and followed him inside. The two girls conversed as he shut the door behind them.

"Oh, really? You only met yesterday?"

Jingles from Ochako replied to Tsuyu's croaks.

"Hm? That's odd, ribbit. How did he get there?" Tsuyu tilted her head and glanced back at Izuku. "Really? That many times?"

More jingles.

"But if he was in the Halfway-Town he'd have needed a guide, wouldn't he? Ribbit. No, that would be impossible."

Izuku took a step closer to them. "Do you two, um, know each other?"

Their attention moved back to him. "Oh no, but the Anura and the Lepidoptera have always been friendly. Well, up until _he _disappeared, that is. Ribbit. But I prefer to stick to the old ways anyway. It's much nicer that way."

Ochako nodded in agreement.

Izuku squinted. "Uhh?"

Tsuyu let out a little huff of amusement. "You really don't know do you? But Ochako says she met you in a Halfway-Town, and you can't get to those without instruction from a Faunal, ribbit."

Again, the words that Tsuyu was saying sounded foreign to his ears but felt eerily familiar at the same time. As if he'd heard them in a dream that he'd forgotten about.

Ochako turned slightly, rummaged in her satchel, and pulled out a piece of folded up paper. When she unfolded it the portrait of a man stared back at Izuku, with a picture of a moth just above it.

Izuku took a hesitant step forwards and pointed a shaky finger at his drawings. "But… That's… This is impossible. They're my drawings."

"You drew those Izuku?" Tsuyu croaked as she placed a long finger on her chin again.

"Uh, yeah they're mine- I mean, I gave them to whoever takes care of the secret garden…" Izuku said breathlessly.

Ochako nodded with a quiet chime and held her cheeks in her hands.

"Wait. Is it you? Do you look after the garden?"

Ochako nodded again and pointed at the drawing of the moth, then to herself.

"That _m-moth_, was _you_?" After he'd received another nod Izuku walked over to his bed and slumped heavily onto the lumpy mattress. "I think I need to sit down."

Ochako chimed again and Tsuyu laughed a little as she said, "Ochako says you're already sitting down."

Izuku felt a smile flicker at the corner of his lips. "Wait, how did you know I can't hear her?"

Tsuyu shrugged and said flatly, "Humans never listen. Not properly, ribbit. You have to-"

"-Listen with your heart?" Izuku finished for her.

"Exactly. Ribbit."

"But I don't even know what that means," he sighed, leaning back on the bed so that he was staring at the ceiling.

If he'd expected to be having the strangest day of his life, he'd have probably mentally prepared himself for it first, and then he'd have been more ready to face it. It wasn't that he didn't think he could cope, since he'd been dealing with being bullied his whole life – friendless – and forging ahead regardless. But he felt like a sponge that was taking on too much moisture. At some point there had to be a limit. And yet… the fire of his curiosity had fanned into an inferno. He wanted to know it all, write it all down, draw everything he'd seen or experienced so far. He wanted to ask more about the Faunals, about Tsuyu, about Ochako, and about what it all meant.

Who was the man in his drawing?

His fingers itched to crack open his sketchbook and draw.

Izuku finally took a deep breath into his lungs and let it out slowly as he lifted himself back off the bed and looked between the two girls, whispering into each other's ears. All he could hear was chiming and frog croaks. For some reason it lightened the heavy weight on his chest.

"So," he began, scratching a cheek, "you can t-turn into a moth?"

Ochako pulled away from Tsuyu and looked at him with surprise, her antennae twitching. Maybe they thought he'd need more time to process everything. She nodded and held up the sheet of paper again, pointing excitedly at the moth he'd drawn. She smiled bashfully as she spoke in the chimes Izuku could hear, and looked fondly at the drawing.

"She said that you-" Tsuyu was cut off by Ochako's arms flailing wildly and a unbroken jingling streaming out of her rapidly moving mouth, sounding like someone had thrown a wind chime down the stairs. Tsuyu chuckled with playful sparkle to her eyes. "Never mind, ribbit."

Izuku blinked, nonplussed, and continued with his line of questioning. "Well, does that mean you turn into a moth too, Tsuyu?"

The girl in question laughed a little louder and flashed him with the full effect of her wide off-kilter smile, her tongue hung oddly out of the corner of her mouth. It looked too long to be human. "Oh no. Not me, ribbit. I'm an Anura – I turn into a frog."

"R-Really? … Wait, I- I guess that kind of makes sense. The croaking, and your, um, aesthetics. I can't believe there's been someone who turns into a frog in my corridor at university…"

"Lots of Faunals choose to live in the human world. More freedom."

"Are there more of you- the Faunals I mean- at the university right now?"

"Many more. Ribbit."

Izuku placed a hand on his chin again as he let his mind run through what he had learned so far. "People who turn into animals right under our noses and nobody even knows… So, the Anura like you Tsuyu, turn into a frog? And Lepidoptera turn into a moth, right?"

"Mm," Tsuyu hummed in gentle disagreement, "not quite, ribbit. Anura is the frog family, yes, but Lepidoptera is a family that includes butterflies too."

Ochako turned away slightly and pushed her wings further behind herself. She picked at the ring of fur around her wrists, her hands still covered with the gloves.

Izuku felt a stab of guilt again.

"Faunals are animal spirits," Tsuyu continued. "We help the animals and keep the natural side of your world in order, ribbit. In return the people chosen to be an Amicus help to keep us safe, help us live in your world – help us protect nature. No, we're not like ghosts," she added with amusement, obviously seeing the excited way his face lit up when she said 'spirits'.

Izuku let that unspoken question die and hummed as he placed his chin in his hand. He paced as he muttered, "I bet they're probably environmentalists, or conservationists, or campaigners… that sort of thing. That would make sense. Stay undercover but still help. Makes sense."

A knowing glint came to Tsuyu's eyes. "They're chosen for their strength of heart."

Izuku stopped pacing. _Strength of heart?_ Well, that certainly wasn't him.

Ochako chimed something and Tsuyu nodded. "An Amicus can come to any Halfway-Town and interact with the Faunals there. They're shown the way by their Faunal guide."

Izuku perked up and looked at Ochako. "Are you my guide?"

Ochako shook her head and chimed softly.

"She says she only met you at the garden," Tsuyu helpfully supplied, "so it's not her. It's odd that you even got there at all without one, ribbit. Do you remember how you found it?"

Izuku said that he didn't, though that was entirely the truth; after he'd fainted the first time and woken up quite shaken, he'd gone for a walk to clear his head and had simply ended up at the blue gate in the bushes at the edge of the park. His curiosity had been the catalyst to push him through it. Ever since he'd just kind of… known the way.

Tsuyu sighed, unaware that Izuku was holding something back. "Maybe you're not really an Amicus and you just stumbled upon an old Halfway-Town by accident. I've never heard of that happening, but nothing's impossible, ribbit. It's not a good time to become an Amicus anyway – I've heard some of them have been disappearing… and Halfway-Towns are being abandoned all over…"

Ochako sighed and pointed to the portrait of the man Izuku had drawn.

"Yes, you're right. Ever since _he_ disappeared things have been looking bleaker and bleaker, ribbit. Even the Faunals themselves are divided now. Some of the stories I've heard sound awful…"

The three of them were silent for a moment and Izuku wondered what the other two were thinking; Ochako was picking at the fur on her wrists again, but her expression held a dark, more serious edge to it, while Tsuyu frowned at his threadbare carpet, her eyes glazed and unfocused, her tongue poking out of the side of her mouth.

"I'm sorry," Tsuyu said gently, breaking the silence, "this must all seem so bizarre to you, Izuku. Ribbit."

"Uh, yeah, it's… a lot to take in today," Izuku admitted sheepishly.

Ochako smiled encouragingly and pumped a fist into the air, chiming something loudly.

"Ochako thinks you've taken it all quite well."

More chiming.

"She says you only screamed once."

"N-Nearly screamed- and I didn't even cry. N-Not that I would do that." Izuku felt heat creeping up his neck and the tips of his ears.

The girls shared a smile and he placed his face in his hands. There were worse ways to make friends he considered, as a warm feeling spread through his chest.

Tsuyu glanced back down at her watch and bowed her head apologetically. "Sorry, but I really do need to go now."

Ochako looked up in alarm and bit her lip.

Izuku waved his hands. "O-Oh, of course, sorry to have kept you. I really appreciate you taking the time to talk to me- to us."

Ochako looked rapidly between Izuku and Tsuyu, opened her mouth, took a breath, then shut it again.

Tsuyu tilted her head. "Did you want to say something else to him? Ribbit."

Izuku became suddenly very aware that once Tsuyu left he would be back to charades with Ochako, and it looked as if she had realised the same thing and had something else to say. It had been nice to feel like they had been kind of having a real conversation.

Ochako twisted the paper his drawings were on in her hands, an Izuku became worried that it would rip. Finally, she shook her head, making her bangs and antennae flick side to side with the motion.

"Okay then, it was nice to meet you Ochako. I haven't met another Faunal in a while, ribbit. While I'm on campus I must remember not to talk, or I'll draw too much attention to myself. It's not safe for Faunals these days. It was nice to talk to someone again." She looked over at Izuku too while she spoke, seeming to kind of echo his own lonely sentiments, and it made him smile.

He pushed himself from the bed quickly and unlocked the door, opening it wide for her. "Thank you, Tsuyu. I-I really appreciate it. I wish we could have been friends before all of this. But it makes me feel better to know you just didn't want anyone to find out your secret, and it's not because nobody likes me." He laughed once, but the sound was slightly bitter and strained. He didn't mean it to have come out like that, but the words were out of his mouth before he could stop them.

"Izuku," she croaked, "you have such a kind, strong heart. The Faunals can be stubborn, and some of them can be very dangerous, but we're not the only things out there that you humans don't know about – it's a world not meant for humans at all." Her mouth set into a long grim line. "Be careful, ribbit. And please, both of you, call me Tsu."

Izuku blinked, unsure at what to say, so he simply waved as she disappeared down the corridor, her long dark green hair swishing behind her with every step. "Bye Tsu," he whispered.

When he turned back to go into his room, he nearly bumped straight into Ochako, who was also in the doorway waving at Tsuyu's back. For a moment neither of them moved. He was slightly taller than her.

"S-Sorry," he mumbled, taking a large step backwards and motioning for her to re-enter the room while he held the door open for her.

Ochako looked at him with wide eyes, then backed into the room carefully and lay the paper of his drawings out flat on the bed. It was sporting a lot more creases than when he had first folded it up for her and one corner looked like it was about to rip off.

She took a deep breath and her eyebrows scrunched together as she set her expression into a mask of determination.

Is this going to be what she had wanted to say before? Had she not wanted to say it in front of Tsu, or was it just something she wanted to say herself?

Izuku felt curiosity tingle through his veins and draw him closer to her.

She pointed to herself, then squinted as she placed her hand above her eyes, moving her head back and forth as if she was searching for someone. Finally, she pointed to the portrait of the man with the blonde hair and intense blue eyes.

"You're looking for this man? He's a real person then…" Izuku said, looking hard at the picture and trying to push down his unnerving feelings of familiarity.

Ochako nodded and then pointed to him.

"You want my help to find him?"

She nodded again more fervently as Izuku backed away.

"I-I don't… I don't even know him. I'm sorry, I've never met him before. I w-wouldn't be any help to you, I promise. I'm kind of useless, I would just slow you down."

Ochako's expression fell and her brown eyes shined with sadness and disappointment. She took a step towards him and her hand moved up slightly, like she was going to try and reach out to him, but she brought it up to her chest to clasp both her hands there instead. She tilted her head and spoke in her chimes to him; softly, imploringly.

But he couldn't just drop everything and go with her… Could he?

"I mean, I don't think I've ever met him before, but I just… don't know. I kind of feel like maybe I met him in a dream or something… S-Sorry, that sounds kind of dumb…"

Something glinted out of Ochako's eyes, but Izuku couldn't tell if it was amusement or interest.

Izuku's heart was pounding in his ears. He felt like he could almost hear a whisper of a voice threading between his panic telling him that he could do this. He was meant to do this. He could be brave, like with the tape for Tsu. Though something told him this was way beyond that kind of courage. But if she'd come to him and needed his help… he could be brave for her, couldn't he?

Besides, it was beginning to feel possible that his fainting episodes, the missing man and the Faunals could all be connected somehow too.

_You can do this._

Izuku's eyebrows drew together in surprise as he looked at Ochako's round face; pink cheeks and brown eyes locked onto his, and he realised the voice he could hear inside didn't sound like his own. It had a female ring to it.

Was that…?

She blinked, breaking their eye contact and the intense feeling faded so quickly Izuku figured he must have imagined it. Though it turned out more than he could have ever imagined was now his real world – so who's to say what was and wasn't possible anymore.

It was all so overwhelming and the thought of being needed – _him _– and thinking he was able to make a special kind of difference for once in his life brought surprising pinpricks of moisture to his eyes. Izuku suddenly found his vision was swimming with unshed tears. He ruffled his hair violently and took a quick deep breath. He felt like he was on a cliff-edge – he could turn away from the precipice and walk away and return to something normal and safe, or he could take a running start and throw himself over the edge.

But how deep would he fall?

Izuku walked to the window in his room and looked through the dirty glass onto the street. Students were walking along the pavement, unaware of the world he'd just discovered. He could join them… Or…

"Y-You really think I can help?"

A string of jingles answered him, bringing a flash of a smile to his face and breaking the press of tension in his chest. Ochako's lips were moving rapidly and her hands made flustered flapping motions as she spoke. But he still couldn't understand a word.

Her eyes seemed to say that she believed that he could.

"Okay," he whispered. "I… I'll help you. I c-can't promise to be much help, but I'll do whatever I can. I'll try my hardest, I promise."

Ochako's face brightened instantly and she looked like she was on the verge of tears herself; an excited flush bloomed in her cheeks, her antennae were ramrod straight to the ceiling and her wings fluttered against her back. She bounced on her heels and held out a gloved hand between them.

Izuku went to shake it and then cheekily yanked the glove off her hand, ignoring her squeaks of protest as he put it in his back pocket. He held out his own hand for her and gave her a shaky smile, his thoughts racing with doubts over whether this was a good idea or not, even while something in his heart filled him with confidence that this was the best decision he'd ever made.

Ochako's eyes flicked between his hand and his face, but he only smiled wider in encouragement. She grabbed his hand and shook heartily. Her palm was just as dusty and gritty feeling as before, but her skin was warm, and her grip was firm.

It was a good decision. He could feel it in his bones.

With a bounce in her step Ochako tugged their still clasped hands towards the doorway.

"O-Oh, we're going right now? Uh, let me just…" Izuku let go, put on his red boots and grabbed his yellow backpack from the day before, shoving a notebook and pen in there to go alongside his sketchbook (he'd definitely need those). He quickly texted his mom telling her he was going to be studying hard for some exams, so he wouldn't be able to video call her for a while (he tried not to feel too guilty about lying to her while he typed). It's not like he could tell her the truth; there's no way she'd believe him if he was still struggling to believe it himself. In a flash of inspiration, he also packed in an umbrella, his phone and its charger, a torch, and discreetly folded up a change of underwear that he pushed right down to the bottom of the bag. He smiled at her, though it felt a little weak. "Right, I'm ready."

His theory that nobody would even notice his absence was certainly about be tested.

Ochako skipped to his closed door, took off her other glove and rubbed her hands together in a circular motion. Izuku watched her with growing curiosity and confusion. She then cupped her hands and blew on them, creating a swirling cloud of powdery dust that floated onto the wood. After a pause she threw Izuku a playful grin, looking at him with barely contained excitement, and then swung open his door.

Izuku couldn't help the gasp that poured out of his mouth.

Instead of the usual view of the peeling paint of his building's corridor through the doorway, he could see a room filled with a purplish hue. His feet took him closer without any conscious decision, though they took him no further than the threshold, and he peered inside. The room that now connected onto his own was large and circular, dimly lit, with stacks of books precariously arranged as if someone had finished reading a volume and simply added it to a pile at random. A huge wooden table sat in the centre of the room, with more books stacked upon it, while a few smaller tables were dotted around with jars of oddly coloured liquids and metal instruments on top that Izuku couldn't even fathom the uses for. The ceiling was domed, and long pearly shards of glass dangled from different coloured cords, swaying slightly in a light breeze and creating a pleasant chiming sound that reminded him of Ochako's voice.

Izuku hadn't noticed that he'd already stepped inside, his mouth agape in wonder, until he heard the click of a door being shut behind him. He hadn't even glanced back into his room one last time.

Ochako was still looking at him excitedly, her antennae bobbing up and down even while she was standing still.

"This is incredible," he breathed finally, finding his voice. His neck craned with the force of how quickly he was peering around the room, totally lost in his desire to see and explore.

"Ochako." A deep voice sounded from across the room and Izuku nearly jumped at the sudden realisation that they were not alone, though he couldn't see the owner of the voice.

Ochako threw him an apologetic glance and grimaced with a press of her hands together – almost as if she was saying sorry for what was to come.

"Tell me you didn't bring a human here." The voice came again, closer.

From behind a stack of books emerged a tall man, slender in build, covered head to toe in a baggy black robe, while a black scarf was wound loosely around his neck, hanging down over the front of the robe somewhat. His hair was also black, long and scraggly, and his face contained a thin covering of facial hair that added to his impression of not caring much about his appearance. His black eyes gave the illusion of being unfocused and tired, but Izuku could see something intense and intelligent in them that unnerved him. Huge black feathered wings ruffled in displeasure behind him.

Ochako bowed her head slightly at him and rapid chiming sounds came out of her mouth. For some reason she seemed far away, like there was a gap between them not just caused by the distance they were standing apart.

Who was this man?

"Him?" Came a clipped reply to whatever she'd said. "_He's _going to help you find Toshinori?" His voice was low, but it contained a completely undisguised note of incredulity that Izuku felt self-conscious about. The man seemed to be assessing him with his eyes, then they widened slightly as Ochako continued speaking. "Show me."

Ochako rummaged in her satchel and held out the piece of paper with the sketch of the man. By now it was looking even more creased and worn. Izuku hadn't even noticed her squirrel it back away.

The man gripped it tightly and Izuku flinched as his gaze tore from the paper to him – it seemed as if he could almost see right through to his soul.

"Congratulations," the man finally drawled, "looks like you're our only clue to finding the one man who can end the war."

"_W-War?_" Izuku squeaked.

He had been standing on a cliff-edge before – he'd had the option to back away.

He'd jumped.

How far would he fall?


End file.
